Where to find inspiration

With all of these, of course, don't copy; make your own thing inspired by it. Of course, you can always make your spin on an idea.

• Watch lots of movies. Animated movies such as Dreamworks' Dragons are nice. Realistic ones can work as well. Sometimes, when watching such movies, I'll have a notebook out, and I'll write down a list of what I like, and what I think I could try to do.

• Books. Most books are great for inspiration. Example: The Edge Chronicles, or Scott Westerfeld's Leviathan trilogy.

• Other Games. If you find a game that provides an atmosphere, or has some good basic content (e.g. textures, models) you like, take note of it. I got a load of good ideas from playing Mario Kart DS. Another Example: The Dark Nebula games (for iOS). The games don't always have to be 3D: if you find a good 2D game with a texture you think you can recreate for 3D use, then great.

• Real world: this is a good idea to see how architecture and textures are combined. There's a trim at the base of walls in houses. It's things like that that you should watch for. You can also take a camera for photographing textures you like. That's how a lot of good textures can be made.

• Find a big or fancy building/venue in your town/city such as a club, shopping mall, sports venue or school. Take heaps of photos inside and out and obtain the floor plans of the building and see if you can recreate the building in sandbox and make it as exact as possible. Tips: Put the floor plan as the texture and build from the walls up (You can alter the floor plans slightly to make it easier to build the walls). Have a high quality camera with flash and take a photo of the wall/ceiling/floor or carpet one meter from the camera and have it level. It will be used to make the textures. Photos of interior/exterior will help you make the building look closer to the real thing. If you are good it at you can make heaps of money from it. Please do not recreate government buildings because taking photos of them is against the law and will be impossible to obtain floor plans of them such as casinos, council buildings, government buildings or the Capital Building. Government run schools are ok. Always get permission from building owners before you start the project.